Listen Up: Indie Reigns The Venues This Week

Making as many stops on their summer tours as possible, indie bands from all over the map are stopping at one, or multiple venues in the city. There’s a wide range of artists to choose from this week, so to avoid complete and total exhaustion, choose wisely, my friend.

Leopold and His Fiction opens for Little Joy, Independent, 6/3: Where big city meets country, that’s where you’ll find these grunge-folk musicians. They’ve been reviewed as “angsty blues-flavored rock ‘n’ roll,” by Relix and we couldn’t agree more.

Clues, Geographer and Birds & Batteries, Rickshaw Stop, 6/4: Oh jeez. Talk about an indie haven, ex-members of Unicorns and Arcade Fire (Clues) are playing SF for the very first time, and we can’t help but predict a very warm welcome for these talented musicians. All this and Geographer’s looming trance-like tunes and local faves, Birds & Batteries top off the evening.

The Aggrolites, The Independent, 6/4: The dirty reggae kings themselves, a mixture of two old LA ska bands, The Vessels and Rhythm Doctors, joined forces to bring some roots rock to the Bay. Even with rotating members, The Aggrolites have stood pretty solid on their platform for some time now.

Peaches, The Regency: Grand Ballroom, 6/5: Gender bending, super vulgar Canadian diva, Peaches (Merrill Nisker) is best known for her ballsy rapping style and extremely high sexual energy. Her spandex numbers and line-crossing lyrics have taken her to international fame over the past couple years. We can’t wait to shake our booties to her on Friday night.

The Submarines, The Independent, 6/5: You know that cute little song you bop your head to when the iPhone App commercials come on? The one where you barely pay attention to the rest of the commercial because the song is so catchy? Yeah, that’s theirs. Check them out at The Independent where we’re sure they’ll play this, and all of their other hit songs featured on their new remix albums.

Loaded’s 5-Year Anniversary with Steve Aoki, Rickshaw Stop, 6/5: Superstar LA DJ Steve Aoki will be gracing us with his presence at Rickshaw Stop for Loaded’s 5-Year Anniversary Party before he hits up the big stage for BFD at Shoreline Amphitheatre this Saturday. Also playing, Bootie’s Party Ben and The Tenderloins. All tickets will be sold at the door.

Del The Funky Homosapien, Fillmore, 6/5: One of the most classic hip-hop legends plays at one of the most notorious venues in the city. Need we say more?

Live 105's BFD, Shoreline, 6/6: Not exactly the most impressive line-up for a big festival, but a festival nonetheless. The main stage features indie superstars Yeah Yeah Yeahs alongside others like 311, The Offspring, Alkaline Trio, Metric, Mutemath, Glasvegas, Crystal Castles, Steve Aoki, Zion I, Designer Drugs, Wallpaper, and many many others. It’s definitely not for everyone, but hey, to each his own…

Or, The Whale and Built for the Sea, Independent 6/6: They call themselves oceanic indie, we call them genius. Bay Area natives, Built For The Sea have dominated the local indie scene in every way possible and continue to hustle themselves on more bills than we can see them on. Check them and Or, The Whale (also SF natives) in this super sea-themed show.

Rogue Wave, The Independent, 6/7: Iconic? Not exactly, but with a cult following as big as theirs, Rogue Wave is surely on their way. This indie band from Oakland, formerly signed to Sub Pop Records and now housed under Brushfire Records, was originally formed when lead singer Zach Rogue (aka Zach Schwartz) lost his job in the dot-com collapse. They say staggering genius is created when times are tough and we can’t help but call Rogue Wave a case and point example.